Astronomers detect the magnetic field left by a supernova for the first time



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The remains of a supernova at only 168 000 light-years from Earth have just created a magnetic field shaped like spokes of a wheel. It is the first magnetic field of a star that explodes in human history. ( NASA, ESA, R. Kirshner and P. Challis (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) )

Astronomers observed the magnetic field created by the remains of a supernova, marking the first time in history

Using the CSIRO Australia Compact Array Telescope at the Paul Wild Observatory of Narrabri, New South Wales, the team detected the known magnetic field around a supernova after the explosion of the dying star

. The magnetic field was detected around the remains of Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A), the first supernova visible to the naked eye since Johannes Kepler saw the first star explosion without a telescope in 1604. [19659005] Magnetic Field Around SN 1987A

Researchers at the International Center for Research in Astronomy at the University of Western Australia have teamed up with experts from the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astronomy. astrophysics of the University of Toronto. to observe the magnetic field around SN 1987A

By analyzing the properties of radio waves emitted by the remnants of the supernova, the team detected a magnetic field 50,000 times weaker than a refrigerator magnet .

They also found that the magnetic field lines were arranged in an ordered pattern. On Earth, the magnetic field lines of the planet go from north to south. Around the remains of SN 1987A, the magnetic field has the shape of the spokes of a bicycle wheel. Each spoke extends from the center of the wheel to the outside.

SN 1987A was observed for the first time in 1987. This means that the rest of a supernova is not slow in putting order in its magnetic field

. "any youngster in the stellar rest moves incredibly fast and changes rapidly," says lead author Giovanna Zanardo, "but the magnetic field looks well combed all the way to the edge of the shell."

What Supernova 1987A

Supernova 1987A was seen for the first time over the skies of the Southern Hemisphere in February 1987. A team of astronomers from Observatory Las Campanas in Chile spotted for the first time the star in its last agonies. Shortly after, amateur astronomer Albert Jones in New Zealand also reported observing the same event.

The supernova was found at 168,000 light-years, which is extremely close by astronomical standards. It was discovered in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way.

Since the supernova, there are more than 30 years, stellar matter from the explosion and shock waves the star dying. These create a super bright X-ray ring that illuminates the dense gas inside as a cosmic string of pearls.

Much remains to be examined on SN 1987A. Bryan Gaenslar, co-author and director of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, says the team will continue to study the magnetic field and observe how it evolves with the rest of the supernova .

The study was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters .

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